Motor Control Device

ABSTRACT

A control unit calculates necessary power necessary to drive a motor in accordance with a torque designation value and a rotational speed of a motor, sets a voltage value to a predetermined voltage value, changes a current value in accordance with the necessary power, and drive the motor in a case in which the calculated necessary power is less than a predetermined threshold value, and sets the current value to a predetermined current value, changes the voltage value in accordance with the necessary power, and drives the motor in a case in which the calculated necessary power is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to JapaneseApplication No. 2017-252402 filed on Dec. 27, 2017. The entire contentof which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a motor control device that performsmotor drive control.

Description of Related Art

A technology for controlling the motor drive power that serves as thepower for a vehicle or the like using an inverter circuit is known.

For a motor control device in the related art, for example, a technologyof providing a DCDC converter circuit that boosts a voltage from a powersource and applies the voltage to an inverter circuit and setting avoltage boosting ratio of the voltage to be applied to the invertercircuit on the basis of information related to the amount of powerconsumption of the motor has been disclosed.

However, according to the technology disclosed in relation to the motorcontrol device in the related art, a voltage value becomes excessivelysmall and a loss at the inverter increases in some cases at the time oflow output when the motor power is smaller than a specific value.

The present disclosure is to provide a motor control device capable ofreducing a loss at an inverter at the time of low output.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of a motor control device of an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure in order to solve theaforementioned embodiment, there is provided a motor control deviceincluding: a torque designation value input unit that inputs a torquedesignation value indicating a necessary torque value; a rotationalspeed input unit that inputs a rotational speed of a motor; a controlunit that calculates necessary power that is necessary to drive themotor in accordance with the input torque designation value and theinput rotational speed of the motor and calculates a voltage value and acurrent value that are necessary to drive the motor in accordance withthe calculated necessary power; a voltage supply unit that outputs avoltage in accordance with the calculated voltage value; and an inverterunit that generates a drive signal for driving the motor from thevoltage output from the voltage supply unit in accordance with thecalculated current value, in which the control unit sets the voltagevalue to a predetermined voltage value and changes the current value inaccordance with the necessary power in a case in which the calculatednecessary power is less than a predetermined threshold value, and setsthe current value to a predetermined current value and changes thevoltage value in accordance with the necessary power in a case in whichthe calculated necessary power is equal to or greater than thepredetermined threshold value.

The above and other elements, features, steps and characteristics of thepresent disclosure will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of amotor control device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a relationship of power consumption ofa motor, a rotational speed N of the motor, and a torque T.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a waveformof a drive voltage for driving the motor.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating motor control processing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship of a power P, a drivevoltage V, and a drive current I required to drive the motor.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a voltage V tobe applied to an inverter and a loss η of the inverter.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating motor control processing in amodification example.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a relationship between avoltage and a current to be applied to the inverter.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a change in atemperature of the motor.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present device with theaforementioned configuration, it is possible to reduce a loss at theinverter at the time of low output by changing a motor control method inaccordance with whether or not necessary power is less than a thresholdvalue.

Hereinafter, an embodiment for implementing the present disclosure willbe described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of amotor control device.

The motor control device includes a motor 1 that outputs drive force toa vehicle or the like, a vehicle control unit (VCU) 2 that outputs atorque command (torque designation value) in accordance with states ofthe vehicle, an inverter 3 that generates a drive voltage in accordancewith the torque command from the VCU 2, the battery 4 that supplies a DCpower source voltage (VBATT), a voltage lowering DCDC conversion unit 5that lowers the power source voltage from the battery 4 in accordancewith designation from the inverter 3 and supplies the power sourcevoltage to the inverter 3, and a temperature sensor 6 that detects atemperature in the surroundings of the motor 1, a temperature of acoolant that cools the motor 1, and the like. In the motor controldevice, the voltage lowering DCDC conversion unit 5 lowers the voltageat a predetermined voltage lowering ratio from the voltage (VBATT) ofthe battery 4 in accordance with a voltage requested by a control unit31 of the inverter 3 and supplies the lowered voltage V to the inverter3.

The motor 1 is formed of a brushless motor that includes a rotor that isprovided such that the rotor can turn about a rotation axis that has anoutput end, for example, a stator that has a field coil or the like thatgenerates a magnetic field by a drive current in accordance with athree-phase drive voltage, and a housing that accommodates the rotor,the stator, and the like. A permanent magnet is attached to the rotor,and the rotor rotates about the rotation axis thereof as the center inaccordance with the magnetic field generated by the field coil andoutputs drive force from one end (output end) of the rotation axis.

In addition, position sensors 11 that detect an angle of the rotor and atemperature sensor 12 that detects a temperature of the motor 1 areprovided in the motor 1. The position sensors 11 are arranged at every120° in the surroundings of the rotor, for example, include threemagnetic sensors such as hall elements that detect magnetism of therotor, and detect the angle of the rotor. Note that the angle of therotor may be detected by another mechanism such as a rotary encoder. Thetemperature sensor 12 includes a temperature detection element such as athermistor, detects the temperature of the motor 1 such as a field coil,and supplies the temperature to the inverter 3.

The VCU 2 generates a torque command indicating a value of a necessarytorque in accordance with states of the vehicle such as a currentaccelerator position, a vehicle speed, an acceleration rate at the timeof acceleration or deceleration, and the like and supplies the torquecommand to the inverter 3.

The inverter 3 includes a control unit 31 that controls operations ofthe entire inverter 3, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)module (hereinafter, simply referred to as IGBT) 32 that performsswitching of the voltage V supplied from the voltage lowering DCDCconversion unit 5 in accordance with designation from the control unit31 and generates the three-phase drive voltage, and a temperature sensor33 that detects a temperature of the IGBT 32 or the like. The IGBT 32includes three sets of, namely six switching elements (IGBT elements)for generating three-phase drive voltages. Note that switching elementssuch as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) maybe used instead of the IGBT elements.

The control unit 31 compares the voltage detected by the positionsensors 11 with a predetermined reference voltage and detects the angleof the rotor in units of 60° in accordance with a result of thecomparison. In addition, the control unit 31 detects a rotational speedof the motor 1 on the basis of the voltage detected by the positionsensors 11. Note that the rotational speed of the motor may be detectedby using a sensor that is different from the position sensors 11.

The control unit 31 calculates necessary power that is necessary todrive the motor in accordance with the torque command from the VCU 2 andthe detected rotational speed of the motor 1. A relationship between therotational speed N and the torque T of the motor 1 changes in accordancewith power consumption of the motor 1 as illustrated in FIG. 2, forexample. The relationship between the rotational speed N and the torqueT of the motor 1 is like the solid line in the drawing when the powerconsumption is 60 kW and is like each broken line when the powerconsumption is 40 kW or 20 kW, respectively. Therefore, the control unit31 calculates power consumption with which a necessary torque can beobtained as necessary power in accordance with the toque command and therotational speed of the motor 1 on the basis of such a relationship.

Further, the control unit 31 calculates a voltage value and a currentvalue necessary to drive the motor 1 in accordance with the calculatednecessary power. The control unit 31 supplies the calculated voltagevalue as a requested voltage to the voltage lowering DCDC conversionunit 5. The voltage lowering DCDC conversion unit 5 supplies, to theinverter 3, the voltage V lowered at a predetermined voltage loweringratio from the voltage (VBATT) of the battery 4 in accordance with thevoltage requested by the control unit 31. Note that since the necessarypower is calculated in accordance with the torque command from the VCU 2and the detected rotational speed of the motor 1, and the torque commandis generated in accordance with an accelerator position and the like,the voltage lowering ratio is a value in accordance with the acceleratorposition.

The control unit 31 controls switching of the respective switchingelements of the IGBT 32 in accordance with the rotation angle of therotor detected as described above and the current value calculated asdescribed above and generates drive voltages (drive signals) of threephases (a U phase, a V phase, and a W phase) as illustrated in FIG. 3,for example. The waveforms of the drive voltages indicate waveforms in acase in which pulse width modulation (PWM) control is performed suchthat an effective value of the drive current flowing through the fieldcoil of the motor 1 (hereinafter, simply referred to as a current value)becomes a predetermined current in a case of sine wave drive. Thecontrol unit 31 controls a duty ratio of pulses of the drive voltages inaccordance with the current value. Specifically, the control unit 31changes a modulation level of PWM. Note that FIG. 3 schematicallyillustrates a state in which the modulation level is set to about 0.8 ina case of a variable current, which will be described later. In thiscase, the pulse width is 0.8 times as large as that in a case in whichthe modulation level is 1. Also, the modulation level is set to about 1(strictly, about 0.98) in a case of a variable voltage, which will bedescribed later. In addition, a modulation frequency of PWM is aboutseveral kHz in practice.

The drive voltages generated by the IGBT 32 are supplied to the fieldcoil of the stator of the motor 1, a drive current in accordance withthe drive voltages flows through the field coil, and a torque isgenerated at the rotor by a mutual action of the magnetic fieldgenerated by the field coil and the permanent magnet of the rotor. Thistorque is output to the outside via the output end of the rotor.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating motor control processing performed bythe motor control device.

In the motor control device, the control unit 31 sets a voltage value Vto a predetermined voltage value V′ and changes a current value I inaccordance with necessary power P in a case in which the necessary powerP calculated as described above is less than a threshold value Pth, andthe control unit 31 sets the current value to a predetermined currentvalue I′ and changes the voltage value V in accordance with thenecessary power P in a case in which the necessary power P is equal toor greater than the threshold value Pth. That is, in the motor controldevice, the control unit 31 changes the method of controlling the motordepending on whether or not the necessary power P obtained in accordancewith the torque command from the VCU 2 and the rotational speed of themotor is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value Pth.

First, the control unit 31 starts driving in a state in which the motor1 is stopped, then sets the voltage value V to be constant at thepredetermined voltage V′ (constant voltage) and changes the currentvalue I in accordance with the necessary power P (variable current). Thecontrol unit 31 controls driving of the motor 1 as described above onthe basis of the voltage value and the current value obtained asdescribed above (S1).

Further, the control unit 31 determines whether or not the requestedpower P exceeds the predetermined threshold value Pth (S2). If therequested power P is less than the predetermined threshold value Pth,the control unit 31 continues the processing in S1. If the requestedpower P is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold valuePth, the control unit 31 moves on to S3, sets the current value I to beconstant at the predetermined current I′ (constant current), and changesthe voltage value V in accordance with the necessary power P (variablevoltage). The control unit 31 controls driving of the motor 1 asdescribed above on the basis of the voltage value and the current valueobtained as described above.

Further, the control unit 31 determines whether or not the requestedpower P is less than the predetermined threshold value Pth (S4). If therequested power P is equal to or greater than the predeterminedthreshold value Pth, the control unit 31 continues the processing in S3.If the requested power P is less than the predetermined threshold valuePth, the control unit 31 moves on to S1 and repeats the aforementionedprocessing.

As for the relationship of the necessary power P, the drive voltage ofthe motor 1 (the voltage V supplied from the voltage lowering DCDCconversion unit 5), and the drive current I of the motor 1 as a resultof performing the control as described above, the motor 1 is driven in astate in which the voltage is constant (V′) if the necessary power P isless than the threshold value Pth and in a state in which the current isconstant (I′) if the necessary power P is equal to or greater than thethreshold value Pth as illustrated in FIG. 5.

Incidentally, a loss η at the inverter 3 increases even if the voltage V(supplied from the voltage lowering DCDC conversion unit 5) decreases orincreases at the boundary of the predetermined voltage (V′) asillustrated in FIG. 6, for example.

Therefore, the value of the threshold value Pth is decided in accordancewith a value with which the voltage V becomes the voltage V′ in a casein which constant current/variable voltage control is performed in theembodiment.

Further, the control of the power consumption of the motor 1 inaccordance with the necessary power is performed by setting the currentto the constant value I′ and controlling the voltage V by lowering thevoltage by the aforementioned voltage lowering DCDC conversion unit 5 asdescribed above in the region in which the requested power P is equal toor greater than the threshold value Pth in the embodiment. In thismanner, it is possible to reduce the value of the voltage V to anecessary minimum value and to reduce a total loss of the inverter 3.

Also, the control of the power consumption of the motor 1 in accordancewith the necessary power is performed by setting the voltage V to beconstant at the predetermined value V′ and controlling the current I bychanging the pulse duty ratio of the drive voltage as described above inthe region in which the power consumption is less than the thresholdvalue Pth in the embodiment. In this manner, it is possible to reducethe loss of the inverter 3 in a region in which the necessary power issmall, that is, at the time of low output in which the output from themotor 1 is low.

As described above, the voltage value is set to the predetermined value(V′), and the current value is changed in accordance with the necessarypower in a case in which the necessary power that is necessary to drivethe motor is less than the threshold value (Pth), and the current valueis set to the predetermined current value (I′) and the voltage value ischanged in accordance with the necessary power in a case in which thenecessary power is equal to or greater than the threshold value (Pth) inthe embodiment. That is, it is possible to reduce the loss at theinverter at the time of low output by changing the method of controllingthe motor in accordance with whether or not the necessary power is lessthan the threshold value. That is, it is possible to perform appropriatemotor drive control in accordance with traveling conditions (vehiclestates) while keeping a minimum loss at the inverter according to theembodiment.

The motor control device according to a modification example isconfigured similarly to that in FIG. 1 as described above.

Although the method of controlling the motor is changed in accordancewith whether or not the necessary power is less than the threshold valuein the aforementioned first embodiment, the method of controlling themotor is changed in accordance with the temperature of the motor in thesecond embodiment.

In the motor control device, the control unit 31 calculates thenecessary power that is necessary to drive the motor in accordance withthe torque command from the VCU 2 and the detected rotational speed ofthe motor 1 and calculates the voltage value and the current value thatare necessary to drive the motor 1 in accordance with the necessarypower similarly to the aforementioned first embodiment. Further, thecontrol unit 31 causes the voltage V generated by the voltage loweringDCDC conversion unit 5 in accordance with the calculated voltage valueto be supplied to the inverter 3, controls switching of the IGBT 32 inaccordance with the calculated current value, and generates a drivevoltage.

In the motor control device according to the embodiment, the method ofcontrolling the motor is further changed in accordance with thetemperature of the motor 1 detected by the temperature sensor 12.

Specifically, the control unit 31 starts the processing, then sets thecurrent value I to be constant at the predetermined current I′ (constantcurrent), and changes the voltage value V in accordance with thenecessary power P (variable voltage) first similarly to the case inwhich the necessary power P is equal to or greater than the thresholdvalue Pth in the aforementioned first embodiment as illustrated in FIG.7, for example. The control unit 31 controls the drive voltage of themotor 1 by controlling the inverter 3 as described above on the basis ofthe thus obtained voltage value and current value (S11).

Further, the control unit 31 determines whether or not a temperature Tmof the motor 1 detected by the temperature sensor 12 exceeds a firstthreshold value T1 set in advance (S12). If the temperature Tm of themoor 1 does not exceed the threshold value T1, the control unit 31continues the processing in S11. In a case in which the temperature Tmexceeds the threshold value T1, the control unit 31 moves on to S13,sets the voltage value V to be constant at a predetermined voltage Vmax(=VBATT) (constant voltage) and changes the current value I inaccordance with the necessary power P (variable current) as illustratedin FIG. 8, for example. The control unit 31 controls the inverter 3 asdescribed above and controls the drive voltage of the motor 1 on thebasis of the thus obtained voltage value and current value.

Further, the control unit 31 determines whether or not the temperatureTm is less than a second threshold value T2 (T2<T1) set in advance(S14). If the temperature Tm is equal to or greater than T2, the controlunit 31 continues the processing in S13. In a case in which thetemperature Tm is less than the threshold value T2, the control unit 31moves on to S11 and repeats the aforementioned processing.

Incidentally, in a case in which such control that the current value Iis set to be constant at the predetermined current I′ (constant current)and the voltage V is changed in accordance with the necessary power P(variable voltage) is performed as in the processing in S11 describedabove, the current flowing through the field coil is maintained to behigher than an optimal current value while the loss of the inverter 3can be reduced. As a result, the temperature of the motor rises due toheat generation (so-called copper loss) caused by resistance of thefield coil of the motor 1.

Meanwhile, in a case in which such control that the voltage value V isset to be constant at a predetermined voltage Vmax (constant voltage)and the current value I is changed in accordance with the necessarypower P (variable current) is performed as in the processing in S13 asdescribed above, the current value is lower than that in the case of S11since the current value varies in accordance with the necessary powerwhile the loss of the inverter 3 increases since the voltage value V ismaintained to be high. Therefore, heat generation caused by theresistance of the field coil of the motor 1 is suppressed as comparedwith the case in S11. As a result, it is possible to contribute todropping of the temperature Tm of the motor 1 that has alreadyincreased.

In addition, although determination for switching the method of drivingthe motor 1 may be made by comparing the temperature Tm of the motor 1with only one threshold value, there is a probability that switching ofthe driving method frequently occurs depending on situations. Therefore,it is possible to suppress the frequency of switching of the method ofcontrolling the motor by setting the threshold values T1 and T2 (T2<T1)and performing the control processing as described above.

Incidentally, the control unit 31 may input environment information suchas a temperature (external temperature) in the surroundings of the motor1 detected by the temperature sensor 6 or a temperature of the coolantthat cools the motor 1 and dynamically change either the aforementionedthreshold value T1 or the threshold value T2 or both the threshold value1 and the threshold value T2 in accordance with the environmentinformation. In a case of an environment in which the motor 1 tends tobe cooled, such as a case in which the external temperature is low orthe temperature of the coolant is low, the control unit 31 changes thethreshold values T1 and T2 to be higher than those in a case of anenvironment in which the motor 1 tends not to be cooled as representedat the times t1 and t2 in FIG. 9, for example. In contrast, in a case ofan environment in which the motor 1 tends not to be cooled, such as acase in which the external temperature is high or the temperature of thecoolant is high, the control unit 31 changes the threshold values T1 andT2 to be lower than values in a case of the environment in which themotor 1 tends to be cooled. It is possible to appropriately manage thetemperature of the motor 1 in accordance with the environment byperforming such control.

As described above, the motor is driven by constant current/variablevoltage control in which the current value is set to the predeterminedcurrent value and the voltage value is changed in accordance with thenecessary power in the case in which the temperature of the motor isequal to or less than the first threshold value T1, and the motor isdriven by constant voltage/variable current control in which the voltagevalue is set to the predetermined voltage value and the current value ischanged in accordance with the necessary power in the case in which thetemperature of the motor exceeds the first threshold value T1 in theembodiment. That is, it is possible to appropriately manage thetemperature of the motor by changing the method of controlling the motorin accordance with the temperature of the motor in the embodiment.

In addition, although the case in which the method of controlling themotor is changed in accordance with the temperature of the motor hasbeen described in the above description, the method of controlling themotor may be further changed in accordance with a temperature of thedrive element (IGBT 32 or the like) that the inverter 3 includes. Inthis case, the control unit 31 performs such control that the currentvalue I is set to be constant at the predetermined current I′ (constantcurrent) and changes the voltage value V in accordance with thenecessary power P (variable voltage) in a case in which the temperatureof the IGBT 32 or the like that the temperature sensor 33 of theinverter 3 detects exceeds a third threshold value T3 set in advance,for example. That is, the control unit 31 switches the method ofcontrolling the motor to the constant current/variable voltage control.In the constant voltage/variable current control, although a load on thedrive element is high, and there may be a case in which the temperatureof the drive element rises depending on situations, it is possible toreduce the load on the drive element and to suppress the temperaturerise by switching the control method to the constant current/variablevoltage control. In this manner, it is possible to appropriately managethe temperature of the drive element.

In addition, output restriction, for example, output restriction such asreduction of the calculated necessary power P may be performed in a casein which the temperature of the motor is greater than the firstthreshold value T1 and exceeds a fourth threshold value T4 that is lowerthan a temperature upper limit Tmax of the motor. In this manner, it ispossible to more appropriately manage the temperature of the motor.

Note that the control in the aforementioned embodiment and the controlin the modification example may be combined. That is, the changing ofthe method of controlling the motor in accordance with whether or notthe necessary power is less than the threshold value and the changing ofthe method of controlling the motor in accordance with the temperatureof the motor are performed at the same time. In this manner, it ispossible to obtain both the results of the first embodiment and theresults of the second embodiment.

In addition, although the voltage V in accordance with the voltagerequested by the control unit 31 is generated by lowering the voltage bythe voltage lowering DCDC conversion unit 5 in the aforementionedrespective embodiments, it is possible to obtain results that aresimilar to those described above even if a voltage raising DCDCconversion unit that generates the voltage V in accordance with thevoltage requested by the control unit 31 by raising the voltage isprovided.

Also, although the drive voltage of the motor 1 is generated by sinewave drive in the aforementioned respective embodiments, the drivevoltage may be generated by rectangular wave drive instead of the sinewave drive.

In addition, although the case in which the drive control of thebrushless motor is performed, for example, has been described in theaforementioned respective embodiments, the present disclosure can beapplied to a case in which drive control of a three-phase synchronousmotor or the like is performed by using an inverter.

The above-described exemplary embodiments and the modifications thereofmay be combined appropriately as long as no conflict arises.

While exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have beendescribed above, it is to be understood that variations andmodifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scopeof the present disclosure, therefore, is to be determined solely by thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A motor control device comprising: a torquedesignation value input unit that inputs a torque designation valueindicating a necessary torque value; a rotational speed input unit thatinputs a rotational speed of a motor; a control unit that calculatesnecessary power that is necessary to drive the motor in accordance withthe torque designation value being input and the rotational speed of themotor being input and calculates a voltage value and a current valuethat are necessary to drive the motor in accordance with the necessarypower being calculated; a voltage supply unit that outputs a voltage inaccordance with the voltage value being calculated; and an inverter unitthat generates a drive signal for driving the motor from the voltageoutput from the voltage supply unit in accordance with the current valuebeing calculated, wherein the control unit: sets the voltage value to apredetermined voltage value and changes the current value in accordancewith the necessary power in a case in which the necessary power beingcalculated is less than a predetermined threshold value, and sets thecurrent value to a predetermined current value and changes the voltagevalue in accordance with the necessary power in a case in which thenecessary power being calculated is equal to or greater than thepredetermined threshold value.
 2. The motor control device according toclaim 1, wherein the voltage supply unit outputs a voltage in accordancewith the voltage value by lowering the voltage from a predeterminedpower source voltage.
 3. The motor control device according to claim 1,wherein the control unit causes the inverter unit to generate the drivesignal in accordance with the current value by changing a duty ratio ofa pulse in PWM control.
 4. The motor control device according to claim1, further comprising: an acceleration input unit that inputs anaccelerator position, wherein the torque designation value input unitinputs a torque designation value in accordance with the acceleratorposition input by the acceleration input unit, and the control unitcalculates the voltage value such that a voltage lowering ratio at whichthe voltage supply unit lowers the voltage is changed in accordance withthe torque designation value in accordance with the acceleratorposition.
 5. The motor control device according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a temperature input unit that inputs a temperature of themotor, wherein the control unit sets the current value to apredetermined current value and changes the voltage value in accordancewith the necessary power in a case in which the temperature of the motorinput by the temperature input unit is equal to or less than a firstthreshold value, and sets the voltage value to a predetermined voltagevalue and changes the current value in accordance with the necessarypower in a case in which the temperature of the motor input by thetemperature input unit is greater than the first threshold value.